Jogimara and Sitabenga Caves

Two caves in the north side of the Ramgarh hills, partly natural and partly cut, dated somewhere between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE. What makes them matter is written on the rock: Brahmi inscriptions in Magadhi that are not religious at all, and painted frescoes among the oldest surviving in Asia. Scholars still argue over Sitabenga, the oldest performance theatre on the subcontinent or a rest house on a trade route, and over the Jogimara inscription, read either as lovers' graffiti or as a dancer and a painter recording their joint work. Regional tradition puts Rama, Sita and Lakshmana here at the start of the exile.